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Everyone wants to be able to draw better.It's true.But everyone says I just know know where to start. So here are my top 5 tips on how to start drawing and you can even download a pretty pdf of 40 everyday things to draw too!

How to start drawing.

1. Don’t buy a lovely new sketchbook! It will paralyse you. You’ll end up thinking there’s nothing you can draw that will be good enough to go into your beautiful sketchbook. Instead buy load of cheap paper that doesn’t matter. That way you’ll feel free to experiment and enjoy your drawing you won’t worry about making mistakes and we learn by my mistakes.

2. Buy a decent pencil. You can actually draw with anything at all, a biro, a normal pencil, white pen, anything you wan…t but you’ll find things much easier if you have a nice pencil. I heartily recommend getting a graphite stick (that’s like a pencil but without the wood wrapped round it ) and get one in a 2B or a 4B these are both quite soft pencils and it means you can get a nice strong confident line.

3. if you’re not sure how to start - start at the top and work down. Trying to keep looking at your object and not look at the paper. This is called “blind contour drawing” and it’s where you have one solid continuous line describing the shape. You don’t draw while looking at the paper!. It’s incredibly liberating. Your drawings will look quite weird at first. Do loads and loads of blind contour drawing. In just a few minutes a day you’ll see an improvement.

Line drawing created with white pen on coloured paper. Keys.

Line drawing created with white pen on coloured paper. Belt

4. Draw something every day. Anything. Draw the kettle while it’s boiling and you’re waiting for a cup of tea, draw your own hand, your feet, the bookcase while just sitting on the sofa, your breakfast…. it doesn’t matter what but just draw.

5. Stick at it. Keep all of those rough drawings try your very best not to throw them away. Hide them if you need to. You don’t need to let other people see your efforts. Not having the pressure of showing somebody what you’re doing allows you to experiment and freely make mistakes. But keeping all those crazy first pictures will mean you have a great opportunity to see how far you’ve progressed.

If you sign up my newsletter you’ll be able to download a PDF of 40 everyday things to draw. It’s really hard to get out and about in the cold days of January so I’ve created a list of things that you can find in your home for you to draw each day. I’m positive if you draw all 40 of them you’ll be well on your way to being a better artist.

Pencil drawing of light fitting created with 4B graphite stick on white paper. Use a kneadable putty rubber to erase pencil marks and create highlights